The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 204
CH. 4 AN-NISA' PT. 5 اِنْ تَجْتَنِبُوا كَبَابِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ If you keep away from the. 32 more grievous of the things نُكَفِّرْ عَنْكُمْ سَيَّاتِكُمْ وَنُدْخِلُكُمْ which are forbidden you We مدْخَلًا كَرِيمًا will remove from you your minor evils and admit you to a place of great honour. 509 وَلَا تَتَمَنَّوْا مَا فَضَّلَ اللهُ بِهِ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَى And covet not that whereby. 33 b بَعْضٍ لِلرِّجَالِ نَصِيبٌ مِّمَّا اكْتَسَبُوا Allah has made some of you excel others. Men shall have a وَلِلنِّسَاءِ نَصِيبٌ مِّمَّا اكْتَسَيْنَ وَسُتَلُوا share of that which they have ، اللهَ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ إِنَّ اللهَ كَانَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ. that which they have earned عَلِيمًا earned, and women a share of And ask Allah of His bounty. Surely, Allah has perfect knowledge of all things. 510 a42:38; 53:33. 4:35. poison in his hand, where he will of theft is "grievous", the preliminary continue to take it" (Kathīr). 509. Commentary: Truly speaking, there is no classification of more grievous and less grievous sins in the Quran. Rather, the term is a relative one. The commission of anything forbidden by God is a sin, and the commission of all sins which one finds difficult to shun is grievous. The meaning of the verse, therefore, is that if you avoid doing those things the giving up of which seems difficult and burdensome to you, the result will be that you will be enabled to get rid of other sins as well. Some scholars interpret the word ³ (grievous sins) as signifying the last stage of each act of sin. For instance, a person contemplates committing a theft. Now, whereas the actual commitment 644 acts leading up to it would be "minor evils. " If one restrains oneself from committing the final act, the preliminary ones will be forgiven him. 510. Commentary: The first part of the verse means that: (1) One should not pray that God may give one the very thing which another man possesses; (2) One may, however, pray that God may bestow on one "the like of that" which has been given to another man; (3) That while praying, one should not keep in view any particular favoured person, wishing that God may make one like that particular person, for it may be the will of God to bestow His favours upon one in even a greater measure. One should only pray to God generally for His